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1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of communication systems, and in particular, to a method and system for identifying network communication devices on a network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A communication device may need to identify the other communication devices that it will be communicating with when it is connected to a network. Currently, when a network administrator connects a new communication device to the network, he/she assigns the new communication device an address or some other identifier. The identifiers are generally kept in a central repository that can be accessed by the other communication devices. An example of this technology is the JINI system developed by SUN Microsystems. Unfortunately, today""s methods of identifying communication devices on a network requires some type of manual programming by a trained administrator before the communication device can identify, or be identified by, other communication devices.
With computer systems, a Central Processor Unit (CPU) identifies peripheral devices that are connected to a system bus by using boot circuitry, such as a system Basic Input/Output Software (BIOS) chip. The BIOS chip contains BIOS logic that describes a memory with an array of memory addresses. When executed, the memory addresses are logical representations of peripheral interfaces on the system bus. The BIOS logic steps through each memory address and transfers an identification signal to each peripheral device represented by the memory addresses. The peripheral devices that are connected to the system bus send a response signal back to the BIOS logic. The BIOS logic receives the response signal from each peripheral device. The BIOS logic identifies the peripheral devices based on the response signals. The BIOS logic then loads the appropriate device logic for the peripheral devices found. The BIOS chip described above is well known to those skilled in the computer arts.
Unfortunately, the BIOS chip works only with a hard-wired system bus and has not been adapted to operate with network communication paths. A network communication path differs from a system bus in a number of ways. Transfers over a system bus mainly concern the physical media and link protocols. On the other hand, transfers over a network communication path concern network protocols in addition to the physical media and the link protocols. The physical media of a network communication path could be a wireless communication path wherein a system bus is generally a wire connection. The link protocol of a network communication path is generally a serial transfer protocol whereas a system bus generally uses a parallel transfer protocol. A network protocol used to transfer over a network communication path, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), is not addressed when operating a system bus. Therefore, the current methods and systems for identifying peripheral devices on a system bus have not been effectively adapted to identify communication devices on a network.
The invention helps to solve the above problems with an identification system that implements boot circuitry to identify communication devices on a network. Advantageously, the boot circuitry is mature and available at a reasonable price. The identification system can advantageously be used in dissimilar communication devices to provide uniform identification of all the communication devices.
The identification system is comprised of the boot circuitry and an interface. The boot circuitry is configured to receive a request to identify communication devices on a network. The boot circuitry is configured to scan memory addresses. The memory addresses represent communication paths with the communication devices. The boot circuitry is configured to generate an identification signal for each memory address scanned. The boot circuitry is configured to transfer the identification signals to the interface.
The interface is configured to format each identification signal based on communication formats to generate formatted identification signals. The communication formats are based on the communication paths with the communication devices. The interface is configured to transfer the formatted identification signals to the communication devices based on the communication formats. The interface is configured to receive response signals back from the communication devices and transfer the response signals to the boot circuitry. The boot circuitry is configured to identify the communication devices based on the response signals. In some examples, the identification system is on an expansion card that is plugged into a communication device. In some examples, the boot circuitry comprises a conventional BIOS chip.